Francis Nicholson - Nova Scotia and South Carolina

Nova Scotia and South Carolina

Nicholson returned to London after the failed expedition, and began working to acquire for himself the governorship of Nova Scotia. After the 1710 victory, Samuel Vetch had become its governor, but his rule over the colony (where he only really controlled Port Royal itself) was somewhat ineffective. Vetch and the Tory ministry then in power disagreed on how to handle affairs, especially with respect to the resident French Catholic population, and Nicholson capitalized on these complaints. In a dispute marked by bitterness and sometimes extreme accusations (Vetch, for example, accused Nicholson of Jacobite sympathies), Nicholson was awarded the post in October 1712. His commission also included the governorship of Placentia, and authority as auditor of all colonial accounts. He only spent a few weeks in Port Royal in 1714, leaving most of the governance to lieutenant governor Thomas Caulfeild. These few weeks were marked by discord with the Acadians, who sought to capitalize on the change of governor to gain concessions Nicholson was not prepared to give. Nicholson also issued order restricting the interaction between the troops and the town, resulting in the further reduction of already-poor morale in the Port Royal garrison. He also cracked down on open trade between British colonial merchants and the French, requiring the licensing of any British merchant wanting to trade at French ports.

Nicholson spent most of his time as Nova Scotia governor in Boston, where he devoted a significant amount of time investigating Vetch's finances. Vetch interpreted Nicholson's hostile and intrusive examination of his affairs as a largely partisan attempt to smear him. He called Nicholson a "malicious madman" who would do anything that "fury, malice, and madness could inspire." Nicholson attempted to prevent Vetch from sailing for England where he might better defend himself, forcing Vetch to flee beyond Nicholson's reach to New London, Connecticut, in order to get a ship for England. With the accession of George I to the throne and the change to a Whig ministry, Vetch succeeded in clearing his name and recovered his post from Nicholson, who was accused by Vetch and others of neglecting the province.

Nicholson next served as the first royal governor of South Carolina from 1721 to 1725. The colonists had rebelled against the rule of the proprietors, and Nicholson was appointed in response to their request for crown governance. The rebellion had been prompted by inadequate response by the proprietors to Indian threats, so Nicholson brought with him some British troops. He established a council composed primarily of supporters of the rebellion, and gave it significant latitude to control colonial affairs. As he had in some of his other posts, he used enforcement of the Navigation Acts as a means to crack down on political opposition. He established local governments modeled on those he set up in Maryland and Virginia, including the 1722 incorporation of Charleston. He expended both public money and his own to further both education and the Church of England, and introduced ground-breaking judicial administration into the colony. He negotiated agreements and territorial boundaries with the Cherokee, and promoted trade, pursuing policies similar to those he had advocated while in Maryland and Virginia. He introduced a commissioner of Indian affairs into the colonial government, a post that survived until the crown assumed the duties of managing Indian affairs in the 1750s.

Like other colonies, South Carolina suffered from chronic shortages of currency, and issued bills of credit to compensate. During Nicholson's administration this was done several times, but the inflationary consequences did not reach crisis proportions until after he left the colony. It did, however, anger merchant interests enough to raise complaints against him with the Board of Trade. Combined with long-running but false accusations by William Rhett and other supporters of the proprietors that Nicholson was improperly engaged in smuggling, he felt the need to return to England to defend himself against these charges. He returned to London in 1725, carrying with him Cherokee baskets that became part of the earliest collections in the British Museum.